Rope in prop strut

[kmkramer71]

Got tube rope caught yesterday and got most of it cut away. Have a little left to pull out. I noticed the seal is a bit torn up from it. How bad is this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jetdriver]

Tough to say with the rope still in there. Even if you get it all out I'm betting that seal's gonna be letting water through. Definitely worth trying it first, just keep an eye on it. Worse is gonna happen is getting some water in your bilge. You'll know pretty much immediately if it's gonna need to be changed. I haven't ever changed one out but removing the prop shaft isn't that huge a deal, just tight quarters to work in. What boat do you have?

[kmkramer71]

Tough to say with the rope still in there. Even if you get it all out I'm betting that seal's gonna be letting water through. Definitely worth trying it first, just keep an eye on it. Worse is gonna happen is getting some water in your bilge. You'll know pretty much immediately if it's gonna need to be changed. I haven't ever changed one out but removing the prop shaft isn't that huge a deal, just tight quarters to work in. What boat do you have?

2011 RZ4.

This is the prop strut not where the shaft enters the hull. I didn't think the strut had any entry into the hull it is just a shaft support thing... My concern would be bearings in there if there are any.

[freeheel4life]

The bearings are called a Cutlass bearing. I'm betting the rope has pretty much melted itself in there but maybe not. Do you know if your rudder is offset from your prop shaft or does it look like it's directly inline??
If you are able to get it out without removing prop shaft I would just take it back to lake and see if it vibrates. If you have to pull shaft to get it out you may as well just replace the Cutlass

[Jetdriver]

2011 RZ4.

This is the prop strut not where the shaft enters the hull. I didn't think the strut had any entry into the hull it is just a shaft support thing... My concern would be bearings in there if there are any.

Ahhhh, duh! I totally got ahead of myself. Like I said I haven't had one apart but sounds like freeheel knows about the internals of that part. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya!!

[Bakes5]

I had that once....not that bad though. Just get some pliers and pull it out as you turn the prop by hand. Takes a while but it eventually came out. Never was really an issue

[kmkramer71]

is this suppose to be a water tight kinda deal? I do remember a little water coming out when I got the bulk of the rope removed.

[freeheel4life]

No, not water tight. Uses water to keep bearing lube. Basically just acts as prop shaft support. The little grooves/flutes in it are so the water can flush out any sand or particulates that get in there while running.

[IDBoating]

There are quite a few guides and videos online showing how to change out cutlass bearings on struts. I haven't done it (yet) but am not too terrified when the time comes. Like recommended above, if you end up having to pull the propshaft anyway I'd replace the bearing... then it's new and one less thing to worry about for a long time.

[kmkramer71]

No, not water tight. Uses water to keep bearing lube. Basically just acts as prop shaft support. The little grooves/flutes in it are so the water can flush out any sand or particulates that get in there while running.

Perfect, I'll pull the rest out and run it around the marina and see how it goes. Thanks to all.

[ericinmich]

I'd also idle it in reverse a bit. The shaft does move ever so slightly back in reverse, and the rotation will help free up anything left in there...

[boatwakes]

The factory clearance between the strut bearing and shaft should be .010". The photo shows a few chunks out of the rubber so when you pull the rest of the poly out (probably melted) see if you can move the shaft around in the strut. Just grab the shaft and push up and side to side checking for excessive play. If there's lots of movement, plan on changing the bearing and you don't have to pull the shaft to do it, just the prop. I can give you a write up on it if you need or just have a shop do it. If you leave it, you'll get weird vibrations at different rpm and those misalignments will translate into torsional stress on the v-drive output shaft bearing (or transmission output bearing depending on your driveline setup) and more wear on those items.